Drinking in America

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Tito’s is taking a trip around the world. United Airlines announced last week that Tito’s Handmade Vodka will now be the exclusive vodka served in flight.

 

Tito’s has made quite the name for itself since its launch. The six times distilled vodka has earned several prestigious awards and will now be joining the airline world. United (coach) customers can purchase Tito’s for $7 while the snobs up in first class will get it free of charge.

 

United must love Tito’s because they plan on sticking with the vodka “indefinitely.”

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We love when spring hits because so many awesome local farmers markets open up shop again for the warmers months. They’re obviously great for buying yummy foods for your general eating pleasure, but they’re also a mecca for alcohol-related ingredients. A variety of products that you find at the farmers market can help you create some outstanding drinks, especially if you look for ingredients that are especially fresh and in season this spring.

 

Keep these ideas in mind next time you find yourself at a farmers market this season:

 

Rhubarb. Rhubarb is one of those mysterious vegetables (yes, it’s a vegetable) that we know our grandma’s liked to combine with strawberries in pies, but aside from that, we don’t know how the heck to use it. Mixologists are obsessed with rhubarb’s tart flavor and love to use it in all sorts of spring cocktails. We think an awesome use for rhubarb is to make it into a shrub (a drinking vinegar) because you can make a whole batch that will last you all year until rhubarb is in season again.

 

Asparagus. Asparagus may not seem like a natural drink ingredient in any way, shape or form, but we love the idea of using it to create an asparagus-infused vodka. Not sure what to do with it? The Black Forest Inn in Minneapolis used it in a “Bloody AsparaMary” – ingredients included an asparagus-infused Bloody Mary mix and asparagus-infused vodka topped with a lemon wedge and asparagus spear for garnish.

 

Strawberries. If the idea of rhubarb or asparagus is just too “weird” for you, go for some classic strawberries. They have an impressive talent for making pretty much any drink taste delicious, so you can really get creative without going too far out of your comfort zone. To begin with, throw them in a frozen daiquiri to see what a difference fresh strawberries make in the taste.

 

Milk or Cream. So many great drinks use dairy products and their flavor will truly benefit from local milk or cream. If you like to keep things simple, try making a White Russian. If you’re feeling adventurous, make some beer ice cream. It’s not technically a drink, but damnit, it’s delicious.

 

Drinking is awesome. Random ass gadgets are awesome. Now, those two things have mated and created an amazing baby named “The Barman.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t really exist yet, but honestly, that just makes us want it more.

 

The Barman is currently being funded by a Kickstarter campaign that ends on May 25th. Luckily, the creator has already surpassed his $50,000 goal by over $20,000, so that means all systems are go.

 

Oh yeah, you probably want to know what The Barman actually is, huh? We thought you’d never ask.

 

The Barman is an easy-to-use drink mixing platform that uses Bluetooth 4.0 and your smartphone to mix up any drink in seconds. It is an idiot-proof way to make sure everything you drink tastes good. You put your cup with ice on the small platform and then choose a drink from The Barman app (you can also add your own recipe if you want). Once you choose the drink on your app, it tells the platform what’s up and you’re ready to mix your drink. It will tell you what you need to pour, and when. There’s a progress indicator that shows you how much of each ingredient you have left to pour. There’s also some fancy lighting involved; the cup is illuminated in a pale blue light, but when you’re at your pouring limit for a certain component, the light turns red to tell you to stop.

 

Other cool things about The Barman include:

• Being able to mix any drink, any size (within reason)
• Customizing drinks to your specifications
• It tells you what drinks you can make based on the ingredients you already have
• Gives you the capability to share or download drinks with your friends anywhere, anytime
• Saves your favorite drink recipes
• Mixes any type of liquid component
• Allows you to mix in solids, like sugar or salt

 

If you want to donate to the Kickstarter campaign, nearly every donation level will get you your very own Barman as a gift once they are created. You should donate and then send us your Barman. It’s the right thing to do.

Booze for breakfast. That’s all we could think when we opened the bottles of Mama Walker’s liqueurs we received.  The three flavors Glazed Donut, Blueberry Pancake and Maple Bacon brought us right back to breakfast on a Sunday morning. Here’s what we thought:

 

Glazed Donut: Emphasis on the glazed. The super (super super) sweet liqueur lived up to its name. It was too sugary for most of us, as it tasted like straight icing and batter. We’d rather sacrifice the calories and have a real donut.

 

Blueberry Pancake: If we thought Glazed Donut was sweet, we had another thing coming. This liqueur tasted like blueberry-flavored sugar. We almost felt like we were eating a dense blueberry muffin, while smelling a yankee candle, and inhaling a blueberry pixie stick. Needless to say, not for us.

 

Maple Bacon: Surprisingly, we liked this flavor the best. It had a subtle bacon taste that we didn’t mind, once we got back the sweetness of the maple. We’re not when we would ever drink this, but we liked it a lot more than our last bacon tasting.

 

Clearly boozy breakfast liqueurs aren’t number one on our list. We wouldn’t mind the Maple Bacon every so often, but we’ll keep the other two on the shelves.

 

Have you tried Mama Walker’s Breakfast Liqueurs? What did you think?

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We’re not the type of people who need a reason to drink. If we’re breathing that’s reason enough. But for those who need more, here you go:

1. Preakness: The second step to the Triple Crown is this weekend. Drink in hand, we’re betting on Orb to take it all.
2. Cannes Film Festival: The glamorous European festival is going on all weekend. Grab a bottle of champagne and treat yourself like a Hollywood celeb.
3. Star Trek: The latest installment hit theaters this week. Cheers to Captain Kirk and Spock.
4. How I Met Your Mother: After eight long seasons, we finally met the Mother. We’re still trying to wrap our heads around the reveal; maybe a drink will help.
5. Summer Drinks: With the warm weather here to stay, the only thing on our minds is the perfect summer cocktail.

While we can technically drink pretty much anything we want all year round, there are times when the seasons change that we start to crave some pretty specific beverages. As soon as the weather gets warm and we hear those lawn mowers going outside, we’re ready to change up our regular drink menu and go in to summer boozing mode.

 

Let’s pay tribute to a few of our favorite summer drinks that are finally ready to wake up after their long winter’s nap…

 

White Wine Sangria

Sangria in general is a pretty summery drink, but the white wine variety is extra crisp and refreshing. We also love how flexible it is – you can really throw almost any fruit into that pitcher and have a delicious concoction. Combine juices, brandy, and some fizzy seltzer or ginger ale with a Sauvignon Blanc and you’re good to go.

 

An Ice Cold Corona

Pretty much any cold light beer tastes refreshing on a hot summer day, but there’s something special about Corona. It’s the official beer of the beach for good reason. That slice of lime is screaming “summer” and we hear it loud and clear.

 

Margarita

The only time we have a margarita outside of summer is on Cinco de Mayo, and it whets our whistle just enough to make us ridiculously excited for our soon-to-be-margarita-filled-summer. Margaritas are awesome because they are really, really hard to mess up. They come in so many delicious fruit flavors and (sometimes unfortunately) they go down a little too easy.

 

Frozen Daiquiris

You can’t mention summer drinks without having a frozen option, and daiquiris are definitely the king of frozen alcoholic drinks. Strawberry daiquiris are probably the most popular, but again, we encourage you to get creative. Normal fresh fruit works fine, but consider grabbing a few bags of frozen fruit to keep in the freezer – you’ll have the fixings to make frozen daiquiris on the fly and they will make your drink extra frosty.

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As if over thirty flavors of vodka weren’t enough, Burnett’s is now bringing us two more. Burnett’s Blackberry and Tropical Fruit debuted this week right in time for the summer months.

 

The new flavors come shortly after Burnett’s major overhaul that included new flavors and a package redesign in attempts of a classier look (nice try). The new flavors will hit shelves this week at $10.99 a bottle.  We never said it wasn’t cheap.

Terrapin Brewing Co. is paying homage to everyone’s favorite fuzzy fruit this summer. Their latest beer, Maggie’s Peach Farmhouse Ale, is a combo of an old Terrapin brew with an added peach flavor. The fruity beer will be available at the end of the month.

 

Gluten free beer pioneers New Planet have released two new brews. New Planet added Belgian Ale, a crisp beer with a subtle spice, and Amber Ale, a citrusy offering, to their collection. Both beers will be available in 4 packs at the end of this month.

 

Scottish brewer, Innis and Gunn, is bringing a second beer stateside. Their Canadian Cherrywood Aged is a scotch ale aged over Canadian black cherry wood and finished with a hint of maple syrup. The Scottish ale will be available in the U.S. this July.

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One of the better craft beers out there, Goose Island, is celebrating their silver anniversary this year. Other than a big party, what’s the best way to celebrate 25 years? An anniversary beer, of course.

 

Goose Island’s Anniversary Ale debuted this week and will make its official launch at the anniversary party this Sunday, May 19. At 6.4% ABV, the ale is a hoppy collaboration between Goose Island brewmaster Brett Porter and his predecessor Greg Hall.

 

The anniversary brew will be available on tap in Chicago, Goose Island’s home, as well as in six-packs. We suggest you try this one, it’s 25 years in the making.

Along with eggs, milk and bread, many people feel that chocolate chips should be a staple in any household pantry. They’re obviously great to have on-hand if you’re making a last minute batch of cookies or if you need a little handful to kick that crazy chocolate craving at night, but what else are chocolate chips good for? Cocktails.

 

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day, so in honor of a truly special holiday, here are some delicious cocktails you can whip up to celebrate those tiny chocolate morsels.

 

Chocolate Chip Martini

This recipe makes two drinks, so grab an extra big glass, or grab a friend for this one. Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies to munch on while you drink also wouldn’t be a bad idea…

 

Put 3 chocolate chips in the two martini glasses and then fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes. Add the following ingredients, shake well, and strain into the glasses:

• 2 oz. white creme de cacao
• 2 oz. dark creme de cacao
• 1.5 oz. chocolate vodka
• 1.5 oz. butterscotch schnapps

 

Mint Chocolate Chip Cocktail

We are suckers for mint, so we had to include this awesome recipe. The only problem is that it calls for “shaved chocolate flakes” – not chocolate chips. We say shaved chocolate flakes are for wimps who can’t commit to the full chips, so grab a bunch of real chocolate chips and throw them in that drink glass…because damnit, chocolate chips are good.

 

Fill a shaker with ice, add the following ingredients and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass:

 

• 3/4 oz. rum
• 3/4 oz. creme de cacao
• 3/4 oz. creme de menthe
• 3/4 oz. half and half

 

The District Two Cocktail

Okay, this is a super geeky cocktail, but we love Jennifer Lawrence, so deal with it. This drink was created to honor the release of the Hunger Games movie last year, but since the new movie is coming out in November, we are just pretending we’re celebrating early. It is also ridiculously good, so we really don’t have any reason to make excuses right now – can you say “rocky road mudslide”?

 

Combine these ingredients in a blender and blend to your desired consistency (we like it thick).

• 3 c. vanilla or chocolate ice cream
• 1/4 c. chocolate syrup
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 oz. bourbon

 

Once it’s all blended, add these following ingredients and blend for about 5 seconds:

• 1/2 c. mini marshmallows
• 3 Tbsp. almonds
• 3 Tbsp. chocolate chips

 

Pour it into a glass and top with whipped cream, extra marshmallows and extra chocolate chips.